Can't find "map" with search on docs.python.org

[gvanrossum]

BPO	45378
Nosy	@gvanrossum, @rhettinger, @terryjreedy, @raulcd

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

Show more details

GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2021-10-05.15:51:22.634>
labels = ['type-bug', 'docs']
title = 'Can\'t find "map" with search on docs.python.org'
updated_at = <Date 2021-10-08.21:32:49.445>
user = 'https://github.com/gvanrossum'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-10-08.21:32:49.445>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2021-10-05.15:51:22.634>
creator = 'gvanrossum'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 45378
keywords = []
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['403245', '403251', '403254', '403509']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['gvanrossum', 'rhettinger', 'terry.reedy', 'docs@python', 'raulcd']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = None
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue45378'
versions = []

[gvanrossum]

I was looking for the docs for 'map' and tried to use the search box on docs.python.org. This gave a lot of things whose name started with or contained 'map', but the entry for the builtin map() function was hidden really far down under the heading "Builtin Functions" (https://docs.python.org/3.10/library/functions.html?highlight=map) rather than deep-linking to the entry I was looking for (https://docs.python.org/3.10/library/functions.html#map).

I'm sure that some tweak to the index builder could fix this, in general, for all builtin functions and types (many of which I imagine suffer from the effect -- having a short name that is used a lot as a part of other names).

[rhettinger]

I'm surprised no one else noticed this until now.

The doc search finds some entries such as: "sum", "min", "max", and "enumerate". However, it is missing others such as: "map" and "filter".

[gvanrossum]

I'm surprised no one else noticed this until now.

Most people probably just use Google and read whatever comes up. I was looking whether the official docs for map mentioned that map is actually an iterator class. (They don't.)

[terryjreedy]

The iterator classes are not identified as such because being a class instead of a function, such as a generator function, is a CPython implementation detail, not a language requirement.

Searching for filter seems as bad -- builtin filter is about the 60th hit. Builtins should be listed first instead.

[CAM-Gerlach]

See also #60075 and #87780

Seems like this has been mostly fixed in the 3.11 docs, most likely due to the Sphinx version bump in that version (since I didn't spot a clear source change); builtins are now all (at least in my tests of the ones here and a few others) indexed reliably; they are not listed at the very top (which Sphinx prioritizing exact and unqualified matches, as mentioned in #60075 and on the docs community, would improve) but they are at least in the first few spots (for the examples above) rather than 60th or missing.

@JulienPalard , is there a chance that I can backport the Sphinx version bump to 3.10 to versions consistent with 3.11/3.12 so we can pick these fixes and those discussed on several other docs issues?

[gvanrossum]

The builtin map function is now the 5th hit when searching the 3.11 docs for "map". I think that's good enough.